The Best Psychic Stories

By: Jack London, Algernon Blackwood, George Wharton Edwards, Edgar Allan Poe, Elsa Barker, Lafcadio Hearn, Ambrose Bierce, William T. Stead, Gambier Bolton, Hereward Carrington, Andrew Jackson Davis, Nizida, Helena Blavatsky, Walter F. Prince

Narrated by: Amy Soakes, John Burlinson, Martin Gooding, full cast

This collection of sixteen stories contains a mixture of stories about ghosts and contacts from spirits, some by celebrated authors, together with essays on psychical research.

As Joseph French notes in the preface, even for the skeptic, tales of ghostly activity retain a distinct fascination. The widespread interest in psychic phenomena in the early twentieth century proved to be a significant stimulus to literary production.

CONTENTS

1) “When the World was Young” by Jack London
2) “The Return” by Algernon Blackwood
3) “The Second Generation” by Algernon Blackwood
4) “The Clavecin-Bruges” by George Wharton Edwards
5) “Ligeia” by Edgar Allan Poe
6) “The Sylph and the Father” by Elsa Barker
7) “A Ghost” by Lafcadio Hearn
8) “The Eyes of the Panther” by Ambrose Bierce
9) “Photographing Invisible Beings” by William T. Stead
10) “Ghosts in Solid Form” by Gambier Bolton
11) “The Phantom Armies seen in France” by Hereward Carrington
12) “The Portal of the Unknown” by Andrew Jackson Davis
13) “The Supernormal: Experiences” by St John D. Seymour
14) “Nature-spirits, or Elementals” by Nizida
15) “A Witch’s Den” by Helena Blavatsky
16) “Some Remarkable Experiences of Famous Persons” by Walter F. Prince

Public Domain (P)2023 Voices of Today

Not "full cast"

I bought this book because I was interested in full cast dramatizations of these stories, but the description is false and these are dimple readings by a single narrator in each story. Don't be taken in by that (sadly, audible won't let me return this book, so leaving a review to warn others is all I can do).

Of the three narrators, Martin Gooding and John Burlinson are really hard to listen to and I don't think I made it through any but their shortest chapters. Amy Soakes is good, though.

The stories stand or fall on their own merits.

Narration

Burlinson is decent. Gooding annoying. Soakes bland. Only several of the stories were interesting London, Blackwood, Bierce. The Sin-Eaters appears to be missing